Aftertaste of Panic
by Shenzuul
Summary: "Thank you for looking for me," he murmured into her hair. "Don't ever do it again."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Cross-posted to AO3.

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Adrien burst out of the coat closet, Plagg tucked safely in his pocket, just as Marinette came crashing down the stairs. They called each other's names at the same time, the syllables of _Adrien_ and _Marinette_ jumbling together and echoing oddly in the empty foyer of Chloe's mansion. Adrien was starting in Marinette's direction when she _flew_ down the last steps and launched herself at him. He instinctively froze, but instead of bowling into his chest, she seized him by the upper arms and frantically looked him over.

"Are you all right?" she demanded. "We all hid in the attic, but then you weren't there, and no one knew where you'd gone, and I…" She trailed off, struggling to catch her breath, and searched his face. The worry etched into her brow and around her eyes visibly faded as she realized that he was unhurt. Her vise-grip on his arms relaxed, and her shoulders sagged. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered.

Emotion – gratitude, relief, exasperation – welled up in Adrien's chest, and he crushed Marinette into a hug. "Thank you for looking for me," he murmured into her hair as his brave, _idiot_ class president stiffened in his arms. "Don't _ever_ do it again."

He'd _seen_ what she'd done – Chat Noir had arrived at the scene in time to witness Marinette deliberately antagonizing the akuma that was chasing her, no doubt hoping to keep it distracted from wherever her missing classmate had ended up. He'd managed to get her an opening to escape, and Ladybug had arrived soon thereafter to help him bring an end to the fight, but he'd never been so scared in his life. It was the closest he'd ever let an akuma get to actually killing someone before he or Ladybug could jump in and save them.

A great, deep ringing cracked across the fraught silence, making them both jump. "H-happy New Year's!" Marinate laughed nervously as the Bourgeois' imposing grandfather clock tolled out the twelve strokes of midnight. She drew back from Adrien's embrace, predictably pink, and opened her mouth to stammer out something else. Adrien caught her chin and pressed a kiss on her bottom lip.

"New Year's luck," he said, pulling back. He cocked an eyebrow at her. "No more close encounters with possessed party-crashers, okay?" He watched with dark satisfaction as her flush deepened to an alarming hue and the power of speech abandoned her completely, then grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the stairs. "Let's go check on everyone else."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Whoops, forgot to add chapter two. Cross-posted to AO3. (I'm still getting the hang of this multiple platforms thing.)

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When the final warning bell rang, Marinette had to remind herself one more time that hiding in the bathroom all day was _not_ an option. That she had arrived at school an hour and a half early and spent four fifths of that time crouched in a stall giving herself pep talks (and the remaining fifth in the same stall finishing the chem homework she'd been utterly unable to touch all weekend) did not make the moment of action any easier. In the end, she did not find out whether she would have opened the door on her own power; Chloe Bourgeois barged into the bathroom and, finding her way to the mirrors blocked by a petrified Marinette, practically shoved her classmate out into the hallway.

Marinette only just caught herself before face-planting onto the floor. Straightening, she schooled her face in composure. She was fine; she had this. It became an internal mantra: _She was fine. She had this. She was fine. She had this._ Marinette turned – the wrong way – to head to class, and there he was. Adrien Agreste was walking her way, chatting animatedly with a laughing Nino, appearing unjustly well-rested and put together. As the pair drew even with her, Adrien happened to glance her way, and their eyes met. _She was fine; she – she –_ A blank sheet of panic fluttered down over Marinette's mind. Adrien smiled at her, opened his mouth to say hello.

Then he froze.

A trace of pink dawned at his collar, then spread rapidly up his neck. A faint shadow rose in his cheeks, and his ears went positively bright with it. His eyes rounded. "Marinette!" he spluttered. "Good! I … it's good. Morning. I mean. Good morning!"

Marinette stared, fascinated, at the bob of his Adam's apple as he struggled to produce further sounds and failed. He managed a wreck of a smile, grabbed Nino's arm, and fled down the hall. Nino turned his head to gape at her over his shoulder. Dreamily, Marinette lifted her hand and waggled her fingers in farewell.

Then all at once she was able to feel her heartbeat again, and she had to sit down. She crouched at the foot of a row of lockers, forehead pressed to her knees, and soaked in the revelation that idly fantasizing about kissing someone was _very different_ from having a powerful impulse to molest their lips in the middle of a crowded hallway.

She was quite late to class.


End file.
